Brussels, 18/06/2008 (Agence Europe) - The European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) will be based at Budapest. This is the decision, which European research ministers finally reached at the end of the intergovernmental conference on 18 June, arranged at the request of Slovenia, which absolutely wanted to reach an agreement before the end of its presidency of the EU. the Slovenian minister for higher education, science and technology, Mojca Kucler Dolinar declared at the end of the meeting that, “I am very happy with the decision and impressed by the efforts made by member states for the common good of Europe”. The match was not won in advance. In support of its candidate, Wroclaw, Poland had until now refused approval (Poland was the only member state to block a decision during the Competitiveness Council on 30 May, despite consensus of 26 other delegations: Ed). Ms Dolinar refused to comment on the rumours according to which Poland finally succumbed in exchange for a position on the EIT management committee. Dolinar said that she refused to, “talk about any kind of consolation prize”. She would only say that he welcomed the “unanimous support” for Budapest. Ministers have therefore decided to choose a city in a new member states to host the EIT, in compliance with a decision made in 2003. Only Budapest and Wroclaw could claim to meet this criteria but the Hungarian capital won out. The Frontex border management agency is already based in Poland. (I.L./trans.rh.)